Thomas' story

Thomas was a 27 year old advertising executive who enjoyed scuba diving, mountain biking and flying kites.

His nasal tip was bitten off by a dog in 1998. Despite attempts to graft the separated piece of nose, skin, cartilage and mucosa, this did not take and he was left with a blackened nasal tip.

His first operation involved transferring skin from his forehead down to his nasal tip. It was then left joined to his forehead and connected to his nasal tip for three weeks until it had taken. After three weeks it was cross-clamped with a metal clamp for one hour to ensure that it had taken to the tissues at the nasal tip. This pedicled skin flap was then divided and the excess material discarded. At this same operation ear cartilage was used as scaffolding to rebuild the underlying architecture of the nose.

He has undergone two subsequent operations to thin the skin and he will have a further operation to build-up the nose slightly more and to thin the nostrils.